Looking for another good effort against a solid Lower Peninsula team, Calumet Copper Kings hockey coach Dan Giachino got just that as his Copper Kings earned a 5-2 victory over the Novi Wildcats Friday at the Calumet Colosseum.

“I thought we played a very good hockey game tonight,” he said. “I thought we controlled a lot of the play (in) the first and second period. I thought we generated a lot of scoring opportunities. Their goaltender played really well. We missed a couple (shots).

“I thought we could’ve been in a little bit of a better situation going into the third, but overall I thought we played well.”

The Wildcats would get an early breakaway goal just 2:31 in with a shot into the right side of the net from Tanish Nichanametla.

It took nearly 10 minutes for the Copper Kings to tie things up when junior forward Alex Mattila fed the puck to junior Gabe Coppo, who beat Wildcats’ goaltender Evan Budd at 12:06.

The Copper Kings took the lead 4:22 later when brothers Dean and Brent Loukus combined for a tally at 16:28.

The game remained 2-1 in favor of Calumet into the third period until Scott Loukus extended the hosts’ lead to two with a power play goal at 6:19 off assists from Dean Loukus and sophomore winger Tanner Rowe.

“I thought we played well all the way across (but) our top line scored three of our goals for us tonight and also got one on the power play,” said Giachino. “I thought all three lines generated scoring chances quite often.”

Calumet struck again nearly 1:40 later as Dean Loukus picked up his third of four assists on the night by feeding the puck to Brent for a goal at 7:56.

The second Wildcat goal would come just over two minutes after that at 10:00, as Maanas Sharma advanced down the right side boards and fired a shot that snuck past Copper Kings goaltender Sam Kiiskila.

Dean Loukus found Scott Loukus to ice the game with an empty-netter at 16:45.

“I don’t think we’re a team that just throws the puck at the net from anywhere,” Giachino said. “I think we take shorts when we’re in a good position to shoot. If we end up with more than 40 shots in a game i’m going to be happy about that.”

Wildcats coach Mark Vellucci saw his team play well in the first period but felt the Copper Kings wore them down.

“I saw two teams battling pretty well, kind of battling each other out,” said Vellucci. ” I thought we came out with some good jump in the first half of the first period (and) scored a goal. We didn’t have the puck in their zone a lot, but we capitalized when we did.”

“We knew Calumet was going to come back and answer,” said Vellucci. “They did and kind of went back with (two). We kind of stood around and watched them in the defensive zone.”

Penalties would pile up for the visitors who will play Houghton Saturday at 2 p.m. at Dee Stadium.

“They are a good team,” Vellucci said. “They’re ranked second in Division 3 for a reason. We hung with them for most of the game (but) ran into some penalty trouble.

“We’re going to come back (Saturday) against the Houghton Gremlins. It’s going to be a tough task, just like today. We saw what we have to do. It was our first game of 11 this month. We’re on the right path.”

Scoring

Novi 1 0 1 – 2

Calumet 2 0 3 – 5

First period

1, NHS, Tanish Nichanametla (Hardeek Nichanametla, Isaac Gibbs), 2:31

2, CKK, Gabe Coppo (Alex Mattila), 12:06

3, CKK, Brent Loukus (Dean Loukus), 16:28

Second period

No scoring

Third period

4, CCK, Scott Loukus (Dean Loukus, Tanner Rowe), 6:19

5, CCK, CKK, Brent Loukus (Dean Loukus), 7:56

6, NHS, Sam Lawinski (Sharma Maanas), 10:00

7, CKK, Scott Loukus (Dean Loukus), 16:45

Saves

NHS, Budd 14 23 2 – 39

CLK, Kiiskila 6 1 4 – 11

Power plays

NHS: 0/2; CLK: 1/5

Penalties

NHS: 5/10; CLK: 2/4